1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus selecting a template when a user creates an album.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a service for creating an album via the Internet has been known. In such a service, a user can register images captured by a digital camera, create an album (a photo book) using the registered images, and perform a printing order. When a user creates an album using such a service, the user can create the album by using a template prepared beforehand.
For improving appearance of the album, the template includes layout information such as decoration of a background view and arrangement positions of images. Therefore, a user can easily finish a consuming task such as a design or a layout of the album by selecting the template.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 7,545,521 discusses a technique which automatically creates a cover template suitable for images to be laid out on an album. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,545,521, the technique compares metadata of the image data used in the album and a plurality of key words assigned to an image file to be a background image of the template. The metadata is, for example, a photographer, time and date of imaging, and imaging place. Then, the technique creates a cover template using an image file having the key words matching with the metadata.
With such a conventional technique, a user can easily select a template and create an album.
Therefore, when the conventional technique to create a cover template is applied to creating the template to perform layout of images to be used in an album, a user can create a suitable template for each image.
However, if a sense of unity through an entirety of an album created by using a plurality of images is considered, some improvements are needed in the conventional technique for creating a plurality of templates. For example, when a user creates an album using photographs captured while traveling, the templates applied to each image should change according to a scale of the travel.
For example, when a user travels in Europe, selects images captured in each country, and uses these images for creating an album, the template, which symbolizes the country of the shooting location, has more uniformity through the entirety of the album.
On the other hand, when a user creates an album by images captured in only one country, the template symbolizing the area of the captured city or district should be used for each image.
When a user creates a template in which a shooting location of image data in an album is used as a key word, the conventional technique discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,545,521 does not consider a shooting location of other image data used in the album. Therefore, some improvements are needed for a recommended technique for a plurality of templates, if taking a sense of unity through an entirety of an album into consideration.